the Amy Schumer thread

tbh the presence of josh charles in her show is enough for me

jaymc otm

I haven't seen any of her stand-up but I'm p excited to now. Also, Jimmy otm too.

Can I call out sick and just watch her all day? Probably not, right? Shit.

I like her, AFAICT, but what I've seen of her show is one hit to a whole lot of misses (which may just be a thing with CC sketch shows, as I feel roughly the same about Key and Peele). The 'women apologizing for everything' sketch was good.

I haven't seen that one but I think I need to because it's something I do all the time and I hate it. Even when I try not to I still do it!!!

frogsbs disliking her is a Win imo

sorry I'm not gonna defend someone who jokes about race, rape, and abortion. that stuff just isn't funny to me, but ymmv I guess

why can't she just joke about airplane food and dumb Apple watches?

('b b but louis c.k. is a genius and amy schumer is ...' in 3, 2 ... )

― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Monday, June 8, 2015 11:40 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What I've been thinking has been the undercurrent in this thread the whole time.

I don't know that there's any real point in comparing the two. If anything, I'd say Amy Schumer seems to be working at about the same level as early-to-mid-'00s Louis C.K.: solid and showing promise but probably not at her peak yet. She seems to be a pretty strong comic in the context of where she's at in her career.

She's such a racist! vs. "It's only a six-letter word that you're giving power to... Here, let me say it again."

It will be interesting to see how her material evolves over time. Right now, she's writing almost entirely for people like herself - women in their late 20s and early 30s who share the politics and values dominant in the culture industry. (Similarly, Louis CK writes for people like himself - middle-aged men at sea in a world that cares less and less about them with each passing day.) Schumer's material is targeted at an audience that writes lots of thinkpieces for high-profile web outlets, so she's having a moment. The interesting question is, what will a 35- or 40-year-old Amy Schumer talk about? Are there (m)any female comedians aiming at a middle-aged female audience? (I genuinely don't know.)

so off the fucking money

"women in their late 20s and early 30s who share the politics and values dominant in the culture industry" -- her whole schtick is that the politics, values dominant in the culture industry are lame as hell when you're a woman in your 20s, 30s ffs. the idea that oh she might be interesting one day, hm, (tugs at beard,) is frankly patronising af. it's interesting as heck that a mainstream comic is articulating a critique of the p., v. d. in the c. i. as such a front-and-center part of her project!

last week there was a WTF interview with one of Amy Schumer's writers, Kurt Metzger, where he mainly talked about running afoul of Jezebel and other sites, and online campaigns to get Amy to fire him.

My first impression of her was an awful one: "I used to date Hispanic guys, but now I prefer consensual."

But in the same way that older Louie standup was more about the easy porn joke, they both got more nuanced, instead of more dumbed down, after blowing up. It really may have to do with what works in a comedy club when that's your gig (more shock needed) than what you can do in a sketch, and what leeway you have when you're a headliner.

thomp otm

I think what CK and Schumer have in common is that neither is particularly strong technically as a comic. (I have seen a lot more of CK than I have Schumer, so I could be wrong about her.) It's very easy to nod in approval or recognition at their jokes (and I've done it) but hard to imagine actually laughing. Which is fine! Comedy has many mansions nowadays. But I think Schumer and CK live in the same one.

There's a really interesting tension between comics 'privately' pushing boundaries in smaller clubs and the extent to which their existence as transgressive satellites, observing and commenting on polite society from a distance, is challenged once their profiles get bigger. You tend to see a lot of awkward 'growing up in public' as they try to figure out how to speak to a broader audience.

So I mean I guess I shouldn't have said "strong technically as a comic" -- "comic" means a lot of things. I guess I mean I think neither is strong in the classical mode of, you tell a joke, people laugh.

last week there was a WTF interview with one of Amy Schumer's writers, Kurt Metzger, where he mainly talked about running afoul of Jezebel and other sites, and online campaigns to get Amy to fire him.

idk if this was meant to be relevant to the point at hand but i just looked at some of the stuff they ain't like him for and man, he seems like a total dick

prob the relevant thing is that AS knows about that stuff too and seemingly doesn't care. So perhaps she's not working just to feed hip websites

xp yea he seems like a jerk, I turned that interview off maybe halfway through

Schumer has definitely, for better or worse, gotten to where she is partly by gaining the acceptance and friendship of the scuzzy tough guy Comedy Central Roast wing of the standup world, and sometimes it's hard to tell what the disconnect between her material and their more misogynistic stuff means -- does she excuse it, does she tolerate it, does she separate the art from the person, etc.

one funny thing that happened after the Twelve Angry Men episode:

somebody had the amusing idea to rank the men in the episode by attractiveness
http://flavorwire.com/517424/inside-amy-schumers-12-angry-men-ranked

and Nick DiPaolo responded in a way that suggested he kiiiiiinda didn't understand the point of the episode he was a part of
https://twitter.com/pilotbacon/status/596001366910304256

I dont see much of a critique in her material, baffled by that interpretation tbh.

(I dont know any moms that like her fwiw but will conduct more scientific survey and report back)

the p., v. d. in the c.

waht

you don't see any critique of male attitude towards women in Inside Amy Schumer? how much of this show have you watched again?

There's some of that yeah but thomp explicitly claiming a much broader critique

I've seen some posters in the subway, am I entitled to strong opinions about the show?

And i think she indulges and exploits male gaze as much as she critiques it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPpsI8mWKmg

only a little critique here

She's a-ok w the racism dominant in the culture industry, for ex.

Xp

How so?

the p., v. d. in the c.
waht

― example (crüt), Tuesday, June 9, 2015 10:59 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Crut, it took me a while too. ""women in their late 20s and early 30s who share the politics and values dominant in the culture industry".

I misread it initially as "the p., v. c. on the t's."

fair

ohhh, thank you!

dominant values, daring assumptions

lol djp i read it as piv

i think she's kind of basic? like all those mommybloggers who call their sites 'mommy needs vodka' or whatever. but, you know, i might feel differently if all the content mills out there weren't going all hyperbolically nuts on her every move, especially the most norm-reinforcing ones, like the recent speech where she's like 'i'm 160 lbs and i can still get laid!' great, have a cookie? or don't, it might push you to 161.

also, would she have any traction at all if she didn't fit the female beauty norm in every way that wasn't the size of her upper arms? let's be real here.

It will be interesting to see how her material evolves over time. Right now, she's writing almost entirely for people like herself - women in their late 20s and early 30s who share the politics and values dominant in the culture industry. (Similarly, Louis CK writes for people like himself - middle-aged men at sea in a world that cares less and less about them with each passing day.) Schumer's material is targeted at an audience that writes lots of thinkpieces for high-profile web outlets, so she's having a moment. The interesting question is, what will a 35- or 40-year-old Amy Schumer talk about? Are there (m)any female comedians aiming at a middle-aged female audience? (I genuinely don't know.)

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, June 9, 2015 8:34 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This post is still killing me, btw.

why? it's not wrong.

at least in its demographic points.

well yes things comedians say sound lame if you take out the parts that make them funny

wait huh? i read that to mean that her brand of comedy is very of a piece with a certain dominant aesthetic in online media.

THE JEZEBEL EFFECT IS REAL.

(lol)

anyway whatever i just feel like she's being hailed for being a lot more revolutionary than she actually is. i'm not so into the slight update of gender norms ('look sexy but with stuff from etsy that says 'KILL ALL MEN' on it !!' that is pop feminism in 2015, so kill me.

It will be interesting to see how her material evolves over time. Right now, she's writing almost entirely for people like herself - women in their late 20s and early 30s who share the politics and values dominant in the culture industry. (Similarly, Louis CK writes for people like himself - middle-aged men at sea in a world that cares less and less about them with each passing day.) Schumer's material is targeted at an audience that writes lots of thinkpieces for high-profile web outlets, so she's having a moment. The interesting question is, what will a 35- or 40-year-old Amy Schumer talk about? Are there (m)any female comedians aiming at a middle-aged female audience? (I genuinely don't know.)

1.) No, not exactly. No more than Key & Peele are writing for mixed-race men in their late 20s and early 30s.

2.) Her material is targeted at an audience who write lots of thinkpieces? Is that why it's on Comedy Central between the Ashley Madison ads?

3.) I dunno where to start. How about any successful comedian from SNL in the last 10 years who isn't Will Ferrrell?

oh cmon you can't think that 'virality' isn't part of a marketing plan these days